As many of you know, I was a massage therapist for about a dozen years before I became an acupuncturist.
While I was in college to learn TCM, I was blessed with the opportunity to transform my massage clients into road maps of discovery. The walls of my treatment room were always covered with handmade pictures and notes of whatever I was studying at the time.
As my hands explored the acupuncture channels, my fingers discovered some amazing acupuncture treasures that go far and beyond the book knowledge I gained in the classroom. A lot of what I learned during that time, helped me to become a better practitioner.
Entry/Exit Points
One particular week I was learning about Entry/Exit Points.
Entry/Exit Points can be a little bit tricky. They are kind of like doorways that allow energy to move from one channel to the next.
It would be really easy if all entry points were the first point on the channel, and all exit points were the last point on the channel. Unfortunately, the rationalization for movement of qi is not always that cut and dry. Sometimes entry/exit points correlate to the first and last point on the channel, but not always. There are a few exceptions to the rule.
Imagine you are a little drop of energy and you need to work your way through the body. You’d begin your journey at Lung 1, then progress your way through the Lung channel. It would be common to think of exiting at the last point on the Lung channel, which is Lung 11; but this assumption is incorrect.
Here’s the tricky part. The exit point of the Lung channel is actually Lung 1! To further complicate things, instead of coming in through the door at Large Intestine 1 (which is the first point on the next channel), you are instead welcomed in at Large Intestine 4.
Several of the channels have tricky little things to remember. I had notes up on my wall so I could be prepared to know which ones were different for future tests. Since I’m much better at memorizing real examples, rather than a list of numbers, I started pondering this concept when massaging.
The lesson:
While massaging my client’s neck, I felt a big knot at Large Intestine 18 that just would NOT release. I knew several techniques for releasing neck tension, but this knot just didn’t want to budge; AND–I was running out of time.
Thoughts started rolling through my head.
“Large Intestine channel. It starts at Large Intestine 4 and ends at Large Intestine 20.”
“If I give a little pressure at Large Intestine 4, will the knot release?”
“Nope… That didn’t work.”
“Hmmm… I wonder what would happen if I pushed on Large Intestine 20 on the opposite side of my clients face.”
So, I went and put pressure at Large Intestine 20 on the opposite side of the face. Notice how the Large Intestine channel comes up and crosses over to the opposite side? I felt a lot of heat under my finger, and the patient noticed quite a bit of tenderness. After giving a pressure at Large Intestine 20 for about 30 seconds, the heat dissipated. I went back and rubbed my fingers across Large Intestine 18, and I was amazed…
That knot had “miraculously” melted like BUTTER!
That experience was extremely valuable to me. Entry/exit points should not be something you memorize for a test and then forget. They are hugely beneficial to your clinic.
If you have a patient who comes in with energy that is stuck in a particular channel and it’s just not releasing, try using an entry/exit point to open the doors so energy can easily flow into the next channel.
I use Large Intestine 20 quite often for neck pain or any pain along the Large Intestine channel. Another favorite of mine is Gallbladder 41 as the exit point for problems anywhere along the GB channel–headache, shoulder pain, rib-side distention, sciatic pain, and hip pain. Palpate for a blocked area. Go down and treat GB 41 and then go back and feel the difference. It’s like opening the floodgates. The patient feels immediate results as well.
I hope this little tidbit from my massage experience helps enhance treatment for your patients. I love to study and teach about acupuncture points. What magical tidbits have you learned along the way to alleviate pain? We would all love to learn from you as well. Click on the comments section below and enlighten us!
Now let’s talk about measuring the channels.
When measuring the source points for an AcuGraph exam, many practitioners get stuck in the mode of measuring according to the “Textbook” location.
My advice? Stop that!
Now that you are done with exams, let’s move on and learn something better. Sometimes the energetic locations are slightly off what the textbook tells you.
Here’s How I Know
I used to get in trouble in college. Truth be told… I actually got in trouble in High School, Junior High and Elementary School as well. It had something to do with telling my teachers how they should run their classes…
In Points class I had to learn all the “rules” of measurement. It was hard for me to focus on the rules because I was already accustomed to letting my fingers tell me where the points were.
Background…
During my early years as a massage therapist, I realized my hands were really good at telling me what needed to be done. Often, my fingers were drawn to the areas of the body that needed help. I’d find bumps, valleys and divots where my fingers were naturally drawn.
As I learned to trust my fingers, I really progressed as a massage therapist. Patients wanted to know what I felt. I couldn’t explain it at the time. It was something my hands just KNEW. My typical answers was this, “I don’t know–but someday I’m going to figure it out!”
Then I met an acupuncturist who knew. How did I know? When she touched me, I felt in my own body, exactly what I felt when I was working on someone else. It’s hard to explain–but I just knew.
Finally, I’d met someone who could relate to what I felt, and I was determined to find answers. I had a million questions. She just smiled and said, “If you go to Pacific College of Oriental Medicine and get your degree in Acupuncture, you’ll find the answers you are looking for.”
So I trusted her and went to school to learn what my fingers were trying to tell me.
College
Points classes were my favorite. Learning about points made me giggle with excitement. My brain lit up.
They were my favorite UNTIL I got in trouble.
The problem was with the Point location…there were so many rules! You had to know them EXACTLY or you couldn’t pass the class.
Remember the rules? They were so complicated!
Sometimes I found a point in a different location than what the RULES told me. I KNEW where the point was because I could feel it, but it didn’t always match the textbook location.
Then I got in trouble. You can imagine how things went when I told the instructor how to find the point: “Just close your eyes and run your finger along the channel, then move over a bit when you reach the halfway point. Your finger will fall right into the hole!”
She nearly smacked my knuckles with a ruler! “No, no, NO Kimberly. In this class you will learn how to find points according to Peter Deadman.”
By the time I graduated college, this is what I learned.
#1: You have to pass the tests in order to graduate college. Passing tests involves memorizing the rules, even if you don’t agree with them.
#2: Those points I had been feeling under my fingers were real and powerful. I learned that by following the rules of channel theory, I could manipulate them to make positive changes throughout the body.
After College
Here is something that my friend and my college education did NOT teach me:
AcuGraph finds points in the same location I do!
It took my experience with AcuGraph to learn that what I was really feeling under my finger when palpating acupuncture points was electrical skin resistance — which can be measured and analyzed. Who knew?
I’m happy my textbook, and my instructors taught me what I needed to know to get through school and pass the exams.
AcuGraph, on the other hand, proves scientifically that what I first felt in my fingers was REAL!
*****
How to IMPROVE your Graphing Skills
I’ve got one thing to say.
“Feel it with your fingers first!”
Let’s take a look at these wrist points.
The black dot shows the text book location. Yellow shows the energetic location where AcuGraph typically finds the point.
When I sit down with new AcuGraph owners, I start out by reminding them to trust “what their fingers already know.“
First, I have them close their eyes and let their finger slide into a point. They are often surprised that their finger location is not the same as the textbook location. Next, I have them slide their AcuGraph probe around while listening for the high pitch sound which indicates correct point location. Typically, the probe lands in the same place their finger went.
Practitioners who understand that the textbook point location isn’t always the same as the energetic point location consistently get better results because their graphs are more accurate!
.
QUESTION: What do a microcurrent device, a laser, and a hippie massage therapist have in common?
Read on, and I’ll tell you!
*****
Having NEVER given a massage before, and only received one massage in my life, I went to a hippie massage school in Santa Barbara, California–The School of Intuitive Massage and Healing. I was completely out of my comfort zone. Imagine “conservative mother of eight” going to massage school. The director of the school interviewed me to see if I would fit into their program by feeling the “energy” coming off the bottom of my feet. Apparently, my energy radiated “just far enough” for her to let me in.
Thanks again for subscribing to our blog posts. I love to learn from you as well. Please post your comments in the link below.
Head on over and check out my NEW “Expert Graph Analysis” CEU course. I’ll teach you how to get more out of your AcuGraph and help you become an expert at graph analysis from a TCM perspective.
If you haven’t invested in an AcuGraph of your own…what are you waiting for?
Watch this video to learn more. Click Here!
Have a great day!
Hi Kimberly,
I so enjoy all that you share. I wonder if you can make some recommendations for neuropathy primarily affecting the feet and the lower legs which edemic, have burning pain in the late afternoon, turn red but feel cold to the touch?
Hello Sunanda,
Seeing your name made me smile! I’m so happy you enjoyed the article. I do have some great information I can share on neuropathy. In fact, I’ll add this into my series “I Learned it With My Fingers First.” For now, here is some quick information to think about:
When I see neuropathy in the feet, I imagine what is happening in the channels. Often the yang energy channels are moving energy down into the feet, but the yin channels aren’t bringing it back up. So, beyond using typical points to release heat in the feet such as Ba Feng points, think about what is happening in the yin channels. Energy needs to move back up the yin channels in order to alleviate the pressure (burning pain) in the feet. I do a lot of work on the yin channels inside the leg. One option is SP 6, 7, 8 and 9. Spleen 6 covers all three yin channels, and the rest of the points give the spleen a really good push to TRANSFORM and TRANSPORT energy back up the legs.
Be watching for an article on this. (Possibly Part 3)
It’s great talking to you as usual my dear friend!
~Kimberly
Hi Kimberley,
Very interesting blog. Very frequently I find a blockage between the Liver and Lung channels (by feeling the wrist pulses). However, particularly in the case of a female patient, I find it difficult if not impossible because of their ‘physical make up’ to needle Liver 14. I tend to use Liver 13 instead in these cases. Do you have any alternative suggestions to help in these cases?
Hello Harry,
I love to treat LV 14. It is a VERY effective point.
Are you mostly concerned as a male practitioner treating a female? I can see this as a slight problem in that case. Often the point is right under the bra, which isn’t too hard in and over itself, but it’s even more difficult with an underwire bra. If you want to treat the point, I would suggest you have the patient lift her breast and move the bra.
Some practitioners don’t like to needle this point because of the risk of pneumoothrax. A half cun is all it takes for effective treatment of this point, so I’m not concerned in that way.
If I couldn’t get to that point then I would consider treating the entry point for the Lung, which is Lung 1, along with Liver 3. Liver 3 is the source point and really gets the Liver channel moving. I’d create an intention to have Lung 1 and Liver 3 talk to each other. I’m picturing Lung 1 inviting the Liver energy to enter through the open door. (Kind of esoteric, I know. But I think it could work!)
Please come back and share your experience Harry. We’d all like to know how it goes. 🙂
~Kimberly
Hi , Wanted to ask you about Basal Joint Arthritis. Have you encountered this problem? Suggestions Please? This is very stubborn Thank You